New Deal - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google Great Depression Leads to a New Deal for the American People On March 4, 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address before 100,000 people on Washington’s Capitol Plaza. “First of all,” he said, “let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He promised that he would act swiftly to face the “dark realities of the moment” and assured Americans that he would “wage a war against the emergency” just as though “we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.” His speech gave many people confidence that they’d elected a man who was not afraid to take bold steps to solve the nation’s problems. Did You Know? Unemployment levels in some cities reached staggering levels during the Great Depression.By 1933, Toledo, Ohio's had reached 80 percent, and nearly 90 percent of Lowell, Massachusetts was unemployed. The next day, the new president declared a four-day bank holiday to stop people from withdrawing their money from shaky banks.

On March 9, Congress passed Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act, which reorganized the banks and closed the ones that were insolvent. In his first “fireside chat” three days later, the president urged Americans to put their savings back in the banks, and by the end of the month almost three quarters of them had reopened. The First Hundred Days Roosevelt’s quest to end the Great Depression was just beginning. Next,he asked Congress to take the first step toward ending Prohibition—one of the more divisive issues of the 1920s—by making it legal once again for Americans to buy beer. (At the end of the year, Congress ratified the 21st Amendment and ended Prohibition for good.) In May, he signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act into law, enabling the federal government to build dams along the Tennessee River that controlled flooding and generated inexpensive hydroelectric power for the people in the region. That same month, Congress passed a bill that paid commodity farmers (farmers who produced things like wheat, dairy products, tobacco and corn) to leave their fields fallow in order to end agricultural surpluses and boost prices.

June’s National Industrial Recovery Act guaranteed that workers would have the right to unionize and bargain collectively for higher wages and better working conditions; it also suspended some antitrust laws and established a federally funded Public Works Administration. In addition to the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, and the National Industrial Recovery Act, Roosevelt had won passage of 12 other major laws, including the Glass-Steagall Banking Bill and the Home Owners’ Loan Act, in his first 100 days in office. Almost every American found something to be pleased about and something to complain about in this motley collection of bills, but it was clear to all that FDR was taking the “direct, vigorous” action that he’d promised in his inaugural address. The Second New Deal Despite the best efforts of President Roosevelt and his cabinet, however, the Great Depression continued–the nation’s economy continued to wheeze; unemployment persisted; and people grew angrier and more desperate. So, in the spring of 1935, Roosevelt launched a second, more aggressive series of federal programs, sometimes called the Second New Deal. In April, he created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to provide jobs for unemployed people.

WPA projects weren’t allowed to compete with private industry, so they focused on building things like post offices, bridges, schools, highways and parks. The WPA also gave work to artists, writers, theater directors and musicians. In July 1935, the National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act, created the National Labor Relations Board to supervise union elections and prevent businesses from treating their workers unfairly. In August, FDR signed the Social Security Act of 1935, which guaranteed pensions to millions of Americans, set up a system of unemployment insurance and stipulated that the federal government would help care for dependent children and the disabled.

In 1936, while campaigning for a second term, FDR told a roaring crowd at Madison Square Garden that “The forces of ‘organized money’ are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.” He went on: “I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match, [and] I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces have met their master.” This FDR had come a long way from his earlier repudiation of class-based politics and was promising a much more aggressive fight against the people who were profiting from the Depression-era troubles of ordinary Americans. He won the election by a landslide. Still, the Great Depression dragged on. Workers grew more militant: In December 1936, for example, the United Auto Workers started a sit-down strike at a GM plant in Flint, Michigan that lasted for 44 days and spread to some 150,000 autoworkers in 35 cities. By 1937, to the dismay of most corporate leaders, some 8 million workers had joined unions and were loudly demanding their rights.

The End of the New Deal? Meanwhile, the New Deal itself confronted one political setback after another. Arguing that they represented an unconstitutional extension of federal authority, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court had already invalidated reform initiatives like the NRA and the AAA. In order to protect his programs from further meddling, in 1937 President Roosevelt announced a plan to add enough liberal justices to the Court to neutralize the “obstructionist” conservatives. This “Court-packing” turned out to be unnecessary–soon after they caught wind of the plan, the conservative justices started voting to uphold New Deal projects–but the episode did a good deal of public-relations damage to the administration and gave ammunition to many of the president’s Congressional opponents. That same year, the economy slipped back into a recession when the government reduced its stimulus spending. Despite this seeming vindication of New Deal policies, increasing anti-Roosevelt sentiment made it difficult for him to enact any new programs. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II . The war effort stimulated American industry and, as a result, effectively ended the Great Depression.

The Great Depression and American Politics From 1933 until 1941, President Roosevelt’s programs and policies did more than just adjust interest rates, tinker with farm subsidies and create short-term make-work programs. They created a brand-new, if tenuous, political coalition that included white working people, African Americans and left-wing intellectuals. These people rarely shared the same interests–at least, they rarely thought they did–but they did share a powerful belief that an interventionist government was good for their families, the economy and the nation. Their coalition has splintered over time, but many of the New Deal programs that bound them together–Social Security, unemployment insurance and federal agricultural subsidies, for instance–are still with us today. Tags Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal - American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress History of the American West, 1860-1920 In the summer of 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor of New York, was nominated as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party.

In his acceptance speech, Roosevelt addressed the problems of the depression by telling the American people that, "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." In the election that took place in the fall of 1932, Roosevelt won by a landslide. The New Deal Roosevelt had promised the American people began to take shape immediately after his inauguration in March 1933. Based on the assumption that the power of the federal government was needed to get the country out of the depression, the first days of Roosevelt's administration saw the passage of banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, and agricultural programs. Later, a second New Deal was to evolve; it included union protection programs, the Social Security Act, and programs to aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. Many of the New Deal acts or agencies came to be known by their acronyms. For example, the Works Progress Administration was known as the WPA, while the Civilian Conservation Corps was known as the CCC. Many people remarked that the New Deal programs reminded them of alphabet soup. By 1939, the New Deal had run its course.

In the short term, New Deal programs helped improve the lives of people suffering from the events of the depression. In the long run, New Deal programs set a precedent for the federal government to play a key role in the economic and social affairs of the nation. To search for more documents in American Memory related to New Deal programs and agencies, use such terms as Works Progress Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, Public Works Administration, Farm Security Administration, and the National Recovery Administration. FDR's Fireside Chat on the Recovery Program | National Archives FDR's Fireside Chat on the Recovery Program Background When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected to the presidency in 1932, it was on a promise to restore the confidence of the American people and to bring America out of the Great Depression. Roosevelt stated in his first inaugural address that "we have nothing to fear but fear itself." His objectives were to calm the economic fears of Americans, develop policies to alleviate the problems of the Great Depression, and gain the support of the American people for his programs. Immediately after his election, Roosevelt began to formulate policies to bring about relief from the economic hardships the American people were experiencing.

These programs became known as the New Deal, a reference taken from a campaign speech in which he promised a "new deal for the American people." The New Deal focused on three general goals: relief for the needy, economic recovery, and financial reform. During the One Hundred Days, Congress enacted 15 major pieces of legislation establishing New Deal agencies and programs. Among these was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which was established to protect depositors from losing their savings in the event of bank failure. Another program was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which put thousands of men to work on projects in national forests, parks, and public lands. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) was created to ease the desperate plight of the farmer during the Depression by establishing a program of production limits and federal subsidies. To address the problems of industry and workers, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) in June 1933. The NIRA established codes of fair practice for individual industries in order to promote industrial growth. It also created the National Recovery Administration (NRA). The NRA was perhaps one of the most sweeping and controversial of the early New Deal programs.

Its purposes were twofold: first, to stabilize business with codes of "fair" competitive practice and, second, to generate more purchasing power by providing jobs, defining labor standards, and raising wages. The NRA also reflected trade union hopes for protection of basic hour and wage standards and liberal hopes for comprehensive planning. General Hugh S. Johnson headed the NRA and eventually proposed a "blanket code" pledging employers generally to observe the same labor standards. By mid-July 1933 he launched a crusade to whip up popular support for the NRA and its symbol of compliance, the "Blue Eagle," with the motto "We do our part." The eagle, which had been modeled on an Indian thunderbird, was displayed in windows and stamped on products to show a business's compliance. There was even a parade down New York's Fifth Avenue with over a quarter of a million marchers in September to show support for the NRA and the "Blue Eagle." While developing programs to help America emerge from the Great Depression, Roosevelt also needed to calm the fears and restore the confidence of Americans and to gain their support for the programs of the New Deal, including the NRA.

One of the ways FDR chose to accomplish this was through the radio, the most direct means of access to the American people. During the 1930s almost every home had a radio, and families typically spent several hours a day gathered together, listening to their favorite programs. Roosevelt called his radio talks about issues of public concern "Fireside Chats." Informal and relaxed, the talks made Americans feel as if President Roosevelt was talking directly to them. Roosevelt continued to use fireside chats throughout his presidency to address the fears and concerns of the American people as well as to inform them of the positions and actions taken by the U.S. government. The topic of this lesson's featured document, Fireside Chat on the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program, was the NRA. Although this radio message, given on July 24, 1933, addressed some of the problems and issues of the Great Depression, it also focused on what industry, employers, and workers could do to bring about economic recovery. For a time, the NRA worked. It gave an air of confidence to the American people to overcome the fears of the Depression and the downward turn of wages and prices.

However, once recovery began, hostility among businessmen grew with the daily annoyances of code enforcement. Within two years the NRA had developed many critics and by May 1935 was struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. The experiment of the NRA was generally put down as a failure. Nevertheless, the codes had set new standards for business and workers such as the 40-hour week and the end of child labor. The NRA also helped the growth of unions with the endorsement of collective bargaining. Resources Allen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday and Since Yesterday: A Popular History of the '20s and '30s. New York: Bonanza Books, 1986. Foner, Eric, and John A. Garraty, eds. The Reader's Companion to American History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. Tindall, George Brown, with David E. Shi. America: A Narrative History. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1992.

The Documents Fireside Chat on the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program July 24, 1933 The New Deal Blog The New Deal In early 1933 nation needed immediate relief, recovery from economic collapse, and reform to avoid future depressions, so relief, recovery and reform became Franklin D. Roosevelt `s goals when he took the helm as president. At his side stood a Democratic Congress, prepared to enact the measures carved out by a group of his closest advisors ï¿½ dubbed the ï¿½Brain Trust" by reporters. One recurring theme in the recovery plan was Rooseveltï¿½s pledge to help the ï¿½forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid." Birth of the ï¿½New Deal" The concepts that became the New Deal had been discussed in earlier years but without effect. The statement by National Catholic War Council in 1919, drafted by Father John A. Ryan, contained recommendations that would later be regarded as precursors of the New Deal.

The term "New Deal" was coined during Franklin Rooseveltï¿½s 1932 Democratic presidential nomination acceptance speech, when he said, "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." Roosevelt summarized the New Deal as a "use of the authority of government as an organized form of self-help for all classes and groups and sections of our country." The exact nature of Roosevelt`s intentions was not clear during the campaign, although his philosophy was set out in an address that he gave at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on September 23: The government should assume the function of economic regulation only as a last resort, to be tried only when private initiative, inspired by high responsibility, with such assistance and balance as government can give, has finally failed. As yet there has been no final failure, because there has been no attempt, and I decline to assume that this nation is unable to meet the situation.

At his inauguration in March 1933, Roosevelt declared in his lilting style, "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is, fear itself ï¿½ needless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." In his first 99 days, he proposed, and Congress swiftly enacted, an ambitious "New Deal" to deliver relief to the unemployed and those in danger of losing farms and homes, recovery to agriculture and business, and reform, notably through the inception of the vast Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) . The New Deal effects would take time; some 13,000,000 people were out of work by March 1933, and virtually every bank was shuttered. The New Deal programs were born in Brain Trust meetings prior to Rooseveltï¿½s inauguration, and also were a grateful nod to Theodore Roosevelt `s "square deal" of 30 years earlier. Members of the group included Raymond Moley, an American journalist and public figure; Rexford Tugwell, Adolf Berle of Columbia University, attorney Basil O`Connor, and later, Felix Frankfurter of Harvard Law School.

Many of Roosevelt`s presidential campaign advisors continued to counsel him after he was elected, among them Berle, Moley, Tugwell, Harry Hopkins , and Samuel I. Rosenman; but they never met again as a group after his inauguration. Herbert Hoover Opening the way for the New Deal, President Herbert Hoover was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Election of 1932 . Hoover, who had been blamed for the stock market crash and the Depression , strongly opposed Roosevelt`s New Deal legislation, in which the federal government assumed responsibility for the welfare of the nation by maintaining a high level of economic activity. According to Hoover, Roosevelt had been slow to reveal his New Deal programs during the presidential campaign and worried that the new president would sink the nation into deficit spending to pay for the New Deal. Roosevelt never consulted Hoover, nor did he involve him in government in any way during his presidential term. The "Hundred Days" The president called a special session of Congress on March 9. Immediately he began to submit reform and recovery measures for congressional validation. Virtually all the important bills he proposed were enacted by Congress.

The 99-day (March 9-June 16) session came to be known as the "Hundred Days." On March 12, 1933, Roosevelt broadcast the first of 30 "fireside chats" over the radio to the American people. The opening topic was the Bank Crisis . Primarily, he spoke on a variety of topics to inform Americans and exhort them to support his domestic agenda, and later, the war effort. During Roosevelt`s first year as president, Congress passed laws to protect stock and bond investors. Among the measures enacted during the first Hundred Days were the following: Emergency Banking Act (March 9), provided the president with the means to reopen viable banks and regulate banking; Economy Act (March 20), cut federal costs through reorganization of and cuts in salaries and veterans` pensions; Beer-Wine Revenue Act (March 22), legalized and taxed wine and beer; Civilian Conservation Corps Act (March 31).

Three million young men, between the ages of 18 to 25, found work in road building, forestry labor and flood control through the establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) ; Federal Emergency Relief Act (May 12), established the Federal Emergency Relief Administration to distribute $500 million to states and localities for relief. Administered by Harry Hopkins for relief or for wages on public works, that federal agency would eventually pay out about $3 billion; Agricultural Adjustment Act (May 12), established the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to decrease crop surpluses by subsidizing farmers who voluntarily cut back on production; Thomas Amendment to the Agricultural Adjustment Act, permitted the president to inflate the currency in various ways; Tennessee Valley Authority Act (May 18), allowed the federal government to build dams and power plants in the Tennessee Valley, coupled with agricultural and industrial planning, to generate and sell the power, and to engage in area development. The TVA was given an assignment to improve the economic and social circumstances of the people living in the river basin; and the Federal Securities Act (May 27), to stiffen regulation of the securities business.

The ï¿½Second Hundred Days" Congress also enacted several important relief and reform measures in the summer of 1935 ï¿½ sometimes called the Second Hundred Days. During the Second Hundred Days, those measures enacted included: Joint resolution to abandon the gold standard (June 5); National Employment System Act (June 6), to create the U.S. Employment Service; Home Owners Refinancing Act (June 13), to establish the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) to refinance non-farm home mortgages; Glass-Steagall Banking Act (June 16), to institute various banking reforms, including establishing the Federal Bank Deposit Insurance Corporation, that insured deposits up to $5,000, and later, $10,000; Farm Credit Act (June 16), to provide for the refinancing of farm mortgages; Emergency Railroad Transportation Act (June 16), to increase federal regulation of railroads; and the Response in the U.S.

Supreme Court Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes provided a swing vote during the critical Depression and New Deal eras , although liberal senators had assumed that he would hold conservative positions when he was nominated by Hoover in 1930. Critics have suggested that some of Hughesï¿½ pro-New Deal stances were prompted by a desire to weaken FDR`s court-packing scheme , not by conviction. He supported Franklin Rooseveltï¿½s decision not to pay government obligations in gold, provided a critical vote upholding collective bargaining rights under the Wagner Act and upheld the controversial Social Security Act. On other occasions, however, Hughes dealt severe blows to the New Deal, most notably in Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States (1935), in which he voted with the majority to strike down the National Industrial Recovery Act . In 1937, Hughes publicly opposed Rooseveltï¿½s plan to pack the Supreme Court with sympathetic justices and offered his opinion in writing to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Opponents of the New Deal By 1934, the New Deal was encountering opposition from both ends of the political spectrum.

All around the country, brazen unions ï¿½ some Marxist-influenced ï¿½ sparked job actions, including a city-wide strike in San Francisco. Nevertheless, the most prominent left-wing threat to Roosevelt was a Louisiana senator, Huey P. Long , who railed at the New Deal for not doing enough. Conservatives argued that Roosevelt had done too much. Some of them organized the American Liberty League in August 1934 to galvanize the right. However, in the mid-term elections, the Democrats gained enough seats in both houses of Congress to enjoy veto-proof majorities. The nation saw measurable progress by 1935, but businessmen and bankers increasingly opposed the New Deal. The president`s experiments alarmed them. The rich, conservatives, numerous businessmen ï¿½ and those who were all three ï¿½ vigorously opposed the New Deal. They were dismayed by his toleration of budget deficits and his removal of the nation from the gold standard, and were disgusted by legislation favorable to labor. Election of 1936 The U.S. Supreme Court had been nullifying crucial New Deal legislation, but the president was re-elected by a wide margin in 1936 .

That nationwide endorsement of FDR, who carried every state except Vermont and Maine, convinced him that he had popular backing. To capitalize on it, Roosevelt introduced legislation to expand the federal courts, ostensibly as a straightforward organizational reform, but actually to "pack" the courts with justices sympathetic to his proposals. He was unsuccessful, but constitutional law would eventually change to allow the government to regulate the national economy. Conclusion As the free world geared up to fight the Axis powers, Roosevelt began to turn his attention away from domestic policies and toward helping the Allies, while maintaining an isolationist position towards entering the fighting of World War II. With Americaï¿½s eventual entry into the war, that nationï¿½s economy continued to improve. Large-scale production of military equipment and the draft turned Americaï¿½s eyes toward a larger enemy than the beast of poverty that it had once known during The Great Depression , thus closing the chapter on the New Deal. ---- Selected Quotes ---- The New Deal & the 3 R's - The Great Depression The Great Depression Works Cited The "New Deal" and The Three R's President Franklin D.

Roosevelt (FDR) was elected president in 1932 and created a "New Deal" in his first 100 days of office. The "New Deal" was organized to help America recover from the depression. The "New Deal" consisted of the 3 R's which are Relief, Recovery, and Reform. Relief was aimed at providing temporary help to suffering and unemployed Americans. -Examples: 1. CCC & WPA: FDR set up the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to provide jobs to millions of unemployed Americans and "stimulate" the economy. The WPA and CCC built more than 650,000 miles of roads as well as 150,000 schools, airports, hospitals, parks, dams, and other public projects, many of which are still in use today. 2.Social Security Act: A law enacted in 1935 to provide aid and financial security to retirees, the unemployed, people with disabilities, and dependent mothers with children. During the depression, approximately 50% of senior citizens lived in poverty.

Like many Americans appalled at the sight of fellow citizens living their final years in poverty after a lifetime of hard work, FDR believed that a nation as prosperous and advanced as the U.S. should not allow retired citizens to suffer poverty. It protects citizens from poverty during retirement, and provides temporary relief for involuntary unemployed Americans and families seeking new jobs- a program known as Unemployment Insurance. The funds for Social Security are collected from every paycheck-worker and employers split the tax contributions that the government collects. After age 62, citizen's receive a monthly pension check back from the government. Recovery was designed to help the economy bounce back from depression. -Examples: 1. Agricultural Adjustment Act: Several measures were introduced to arrest the fall in agricultural prices that had been causing hardship in the country's farming industry. The first Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was passed on May 12, 1933, created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. This agency negotiated restrictions on the production of corn, cotton, dairy products, hogs, rice, tobacco, and wheat, and compensated farmers for the crops and livestock that they did not produce from funds raised by a tax on food processing.

Since the law went into effect after the 1933 crops had been sown and animals born, the agency had to order that crops be destroyed and livestock slaughtered in order to meet the 1933 production restrictions. In 1935, the Supreme Court in United States v. Butler ruled the Agricultural Adjustment Act unconstitutional for having one segment of the population directly supported by taxes paid by a different segment. But as this program was working to improve farm profitability, Roosevelt and Congress rewrote the law to meet the Court's scruples. During the program's first three years because of the restrictions on supply, food prices rose and farm incomes increased significantly. The Agricultural Adjustment Act has not been repealed by Congress and has been many times amended, the latest being in the 1990s. 2.The National Industrial Recovery Act: The 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act was the federal government’s first attempt to revive the economy as a whole. The bill created the National Recovery Administration (NRA) to stimulate industrial production and improve competition by drafting corporate codes of conduct. The NRA also sought to limit production of consumer goods to drive up prices.

Furthermore, the act helped set up the Public Works Administration (PWA) to construct public roads, bridges, and buildings. In accordance with Keynesian economic theories, Roosevelt believed that improving the public infrastructure would put more money into the economy. Reforms targeted the causes of the depression and sought to prevent a crisis like it from happening again. -Examples: 1. FDIC & Bank Reform: When Hoover left office, banks were failing everyday across the nation. Roosevelt and Congress immediately passed emergency legislation to solve the banking crisis. FDR closed all nations' banks so that the Federal Reserve could help strengthen them and restore confidence in the banking system. The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) was created. This meant that the government guaranteed savings deposits for all Americans. This allowed all citizens to trust private banks. When banks failed, Americans were guaranteed that they would not lose all of their savings and prevented future banking "panics". 2.SEC- Stock Market Reform: The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) was setup to regulate Wall Street and the stock market exchanges. The agency was created to prevent fraud and abuse in the stock markets by banks and corporations. The agency enforces regulations to protect investors from illegal financial activities by banks and corporations.

The Great Depression and the New Deal The Great Depression and the New Deal John Hardman Poverty & Prejudice: Social Security at the Crossroads In his first inaugural address, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, made some attempt to assess the enormous damage: "The withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone. More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return." He was speaking of the Great Depression of 1929 to 1940, which began and centered in the United States but spread quickly throughout the industrial world. Despite describing the Great Depression with grim words, this economic catastrophe and its impact defied description. The United States had never felt such a severe blow to its economy. President Roosevelt's New Deal reshaped the economy and structure of the United States, however, in order to end the poverty during the crisis. The New Deal programs would employ and give financial security to millions of Americans. These programs would prove to be effective and extremely beneficial to the American society as some still provide the economic security and benefits today.

The Great Depression The Great Depression began by the complete collapse of the stock market on October 24th, 1929 when about 13 million shares of stock were sold. The damage was extended on Tuesday, October 29 when more than 16 million shares were sold making the day forever known as Black Tuesday. The value of most shares fell sharply, leaving financial ruin and panic in its wake. There has never been a collapse in the market that has had such a devastating and long-term effect on the economy. Businesses closed and banks failed by the hundreds due to the collapse, putting millions out of work. Wages for those still fortunate enough to have work fell sharply. The value of money decreased as the demand for goods declined. In Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal by William E. Leuchtenburg, the economic plight of the Depression is seen. "In the three years of Herbert Hoover's Presidency, the bottom had dropped out of the stock market and industrial production had been cut more than half.. By 1932, the unemployed numbered upward of thirteen million. Many lived in the primitive conditions of a preindustrial society stricken by famine."1 1 Leuchtenburg, pg.

1 Most of the agricultural segment of the economy had been in serious trouble for years. The arrival of the depression nearly eliminated it altogether, and the drought that created the 1930s Great Plains Dust Bowl greatened the damage. The government itself was sorely pressed for income at all levels as tax revenues fell; and the government during this period was more limited in its ability to respond to economic crises than it is today. The international structure of world trade also collapsed, and each nation sought to protect its own industrial base by imposing high tariffs on imported goods. This only made matters worse. Social Impact of the Great Depression By 1932 United States industrial output had been cut in half. One fourth of the labor force--about 15 million people--was out of work, and there was no such thing as unemployment insurance. Hourly wages had dropped by about 50 percent. Hundreds of banks had failed. Prices for agricultural products dropped to their lowest level since the Civil War. There were more than 90,000 businesses that failed completely.

Statistics, however, can only partially give an account of the extraordinary hardships that millions of United States citizens endured For nearly every unemployed person, there were dependents who needed to be fed and housed Such massive poverty and hunger had never been known in the United States before. Former millionaires stood on street corners trying to sell apples at 5 cents apiece. Hundreds of pitiful shantytowns--called Hoovervilles in honor of the unfortunate Republican president who presided over the disaster--sprang up all over the country to shelter the homeless People slept under "Hoover blankets" --old newspapers--in the out-of-doors. People waited in bread lines in every city, hoping for something to eat In 1931 alone more than 20,000 Americans committed suicide. Anyone who had even a little money was extremely lucky. A new home could be bought for less than $3,000. A man's suit cost about $10, a shirt less than 50 cents, and a pair of shoes about $4. Milk was 10 cents a quart, a pound of steak only 29 cents, and a loaf of bread a nickel.

For a dime one could go to the movies, buy a nickel bag of popcorn, and even win prizes given away by the theater. Not many lucky enough to be working had much change to spend after paying rent and buying food. To turn to the government, at least during the Hoover years, was useless. There was no federally financed "safety net" of welfare programs to keep the working class from falling into poverty. The New Deal In 1931 the new president, Franklin Roosevelt, brought an air of confidence and optimism that quickly rallied the people to the banner of his program, known as the New Deal "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," the president declared in his inaugural address to the nation. He was determined to make effective changes during his presidency. "Roosevelt moved swiftly to deal with the financial illness that paralyzed the nation. On his very first night in office, he directed Secretary of the Treasury William Woodin to draft an emergency banking bill, and gave hi less than five days to get it ready."2 The New Deal, in a certain sense, merely introduced types of social and economic reform familiar to many Europeans for more than a generation.

Moreover, the New Deal represented the culmination of a 1ong-range trend toward abandonment of "laissez-faire" capitalism, going back to the regulation of the railroads in the 1880s, and the flood of state and national reform legislation introduced in the Progressive era of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. What was truly novel about the New Deal, however, was the speed with which it accomplished what previously had taken generations. Many of the reforms were hastily drawn and weakly administered with some actually contradicting others. During the entire New Deal era, public criticism and debate were never interrupted or suspended; in fact, the New Deal brought to the individual citizen a sharp of interest in government.. When Roosevelt took the presidential oath, the banking and credit system of the nation was in a state of paralysis. With astonishing rapidity the nation's banks were first closed -- and then reopened only if they were solvent. The administration adopted a policy of moderate currency inflation to start an upward movement in commodity prices and to afford some relief to debtors. New governmental agencies brought generous credit facilities to industry and agriculture.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (EDIC) insured sayings-bank deposits up to $5,000, and severe regulations were imposed upon the sale of securities on the stock exchange. 2 Leuchtenburg, pg. 42 Unemployment By 1933 millions of Americans were out of work Bread lines were a common sight in most cities. Hundreds of thousands roamed the country in search of food, work and shelter. "Brother, can you spare a dime?" went the refrain of a popular song. Ah early step for the unemployed came in the form of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a program enacted by Congress to bring relief to young men between 18 and 25 years of age. The CCC was run in a semi-military style and enrolled jobless young men in work camps across the country for about $30 per month. About 2 million young men took part in this program during the 193Os.

During their time in the CCC, they participated in a variety of conservation projects such as "planting trees to combat soil erosion and maintain national forests; eliminating stream pollution; creating fish, game and bird sanctuaries; and conserving coal, petroleum, shale, gas, sodium and helium deposits."3 The Civil Works Administration was a work relief program that gave jobs to many unemployed people. Although this program was criticized as "make work," the jobs funded ranged from ditch digging to highway repairs to teaching. It was Created in November 1933,and was abandoned only a few months later in the spring of 1934. Roosevelt and his key officials, however, continued to favor unemployment programs based on work relief rather than welfare. Agriculture The New Deal years were characterized by a belief that greater regulation would solve many of the countrys problems. In 1933 Congress passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) to provide economic relief to farmers. The AAA had a core to plan to raise crop prices by paying farmers a subsidy to compensate for voluntary cutbacks in production. The funds for the payments would be generated by a tax levied on industries that processed crops.

By the time the act had become law, however, the growing season was well underway, and the AAA encouraged farmers to plow under their abundant crops Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace called this activity a "shocking commentary on our civilization." Nevertheless, through the AAA and the Commodity Credit Corporation, a program which extended loans for crops kept in storage and off the market, output dropped. 3 Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia Between 1932 and 1935, farm income increased by more than 50 percent, but only partly because of federal programs. During the same years that farmers were being encouraged to take land out of production, which would displace tenants and sharecroppers, the farm production was significantly reduced due to a severe drought hit the Great Plains states. Violent wind and dust storms ravaged the southern Great Plains in what is known as the "Dust Bowl," throughout the 193Os, but particularly from 1935 to 1938 The damages were immense People and animals were harmed, crops were destroyed, cars and machinery were ruined.

Approximately 800,000 people; often called "Okies," left Arkansas, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma during the 1930s and 1940s Most of these travelers headed further west to California, the land of myth and promise. The migrants were not only farmers, but also professionals, retailers and others whose livelihoods were connected to the health of the farm communities. California didn't live up to their expectations, however, as conditions in the sunny state were just as bad as those in the places from which the migrants fled. Most migrants ended up competing for seasonal jobs picking crops at extremely low wages. Although the AAA had been mostly successful, it was abandoned in 1936; when the tax on food processors was ruled unconstitutional. Six weeks later Congress passed a more effective farm-relief act, which authorized the government to make payments to farmers who reduced plantings of soil-depleting crops -- thereby achieving crop reduction through soil conservation practices. By 1940 nearly 6 million farmers were receiving federal subsidies under the farm relief act. The new act likewise provided loans on surplus crops, insurance for wheat and a system of planned storage to ensure a stable food supply.

The prices of agricultural commodities rose, leaving the farmer's with a sense of economic stability. Blacks in the Depression and the New Deal The Great Depression of the 1930s worsened the already black economic situation of black Americans. African Americans were the first people to be fired from their jobs as they suffered from an unemployment rate two to three times that of whites. In early public assistance programs blacks often received substantially less aid than whites, and some charitable organizations even excluded blacks from their soup kitchens. It was an extremely poor and desperate time for most African Americans. The black American's economic struggles sparked major political developments among the blacks. Beginning in 1929, the St. Louis Urban League launched a national "jobs for Negroes" movement by boycotting chain stores that had mostly black customers but hired only white employees. Efforts to unify black organizations and youth groups later led to the founding of the National Negro Congress in 1936 and the Southern Negro Youth Congress in 1937. The Roosevelt Administrations accessibility to black leaders and the New Deal reforms strengthened black support for the Democratic party Roosevelt bad many black leaders, members of a so-called "black Cabinet," were served as advisers to him.

Among them were the educator Mary McLeod Bethune, who served as the National Youth Administrations director of Negro affairs; William H. Hastie, who in l937 became the first black federal judge; Eugene K. Jones, executive secretary of the National Urban League; Robert Vann, editor of the Pittsburgh Courier; and the economist Robert C Weaver.4 Blacks benefited greatly from New Deal programs though discrimination by local administrators was common. Low-cost public housing was made available to black families. The National Youth Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps enabled black youths to continue their education. The Work Projects Administration gave jobs to many blacks, and its Federal Writers Project supported the work of many authors, among them Zora Neale Hurston, Arna Bontemps, Waters Turpin, and Melvin B. Tolson. The Congress of industrial Organizations (CIO); established in the mid-1930s, organized large numbers of black workers into labor unions for the first time. By 1940, there were more than 200,000 blacks in the CIO, many of them officers of union locals.

The Second New Deal The increasing pressures of the Great Depression caused President Roosevelt to back a new set of economic and social measures Prominent among these were measures to fight poverty, to counter unemployment with work and to provide a social safety net. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), the principal relief agency of the second New Deal, was an attempt to provide work rather than welfare. Under the WPA, buildings, roads, airports and schools were constructed. Actors, painters, musicians and writers were employed through the Federal Theater Project, the Federal Art Project and the Federal Writers Project. In addition, the National Youth Administration gave part-time employment to students, established training programs and provided aid to unemployed youth. Although the WPA only included about three million jobless at a time, it had helped a total of 9 million people when it was abandoned in 1943. 4 Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia Social Security The New Deal's cornerstone according to Roosevelt, was the Social Security Act of 1935. It "reversed historic assumptions about the nature of social responsibility, and it established the proposition that the individual has clear-cut social rights."5 The Social Security Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt on August 14, 1935.

"In addition to several provisions for general welfare, the new Act created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income after retirement. Social Security created a system of insurance for the aged, unemployed and disabled based on employer and employee contributions. Social Security was funded in large part by taxes on the earnings of current workers, with a single fixed rate for ail regardless of income To Roosevelt, these limitations on the programs were compromises to ensure that the Act was passed President Roosevelt stated upon signing Social Security Act: "We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age." When congress passed the Social Security Act, the most pressing problems were double-digit unemployment and pervasive poverty. "Most families were struggling just to put food on the table and pay the rent; retirement saving was an unaffordable luxury."6 While the Social Security Act slightly affected most of the population in 1935, it began a program that has lasted for 64 years.

Although its origins were initially quite modest, Social Security today is one of the largest domestic programs administered by the U.S. government. Millions of people depend on Social Security to protect them in their old age. "Without Social Security, the incomes of approximately 16 million people - about half of the retirees - would fall below official poverty thresholds."7 While the Social Security program is very complex and deals with more than 6 million employers, tens of millions of beneficiaries, and over 100 million taxpayers, its administrative costs are very low - roughly 1 percent of retirement and survivor pension payments - well below those of private pension and insurance plans. The average earnings of Social Security in 1998 were just under $28,000. The benefit that was paid to a worker who retired at the age of 62 whose earnings placed him at the same relative position in the earnings distribution in every year of a thirty-five year career would by $780 per month.8 From its modest beginnings, Social Security has grown to become an essential aspect of modern life. One in seven Americans receives a Social Security benefit, and more than 90 percent of all workers are in jobs covered by Social Security.

From 1940, when slightly more than 222,000 people received monthly Social Security benefits, until today, when over 42 million people receive such benefits; Social Security has grown steadily. These graph's show the growth of Social Security in the United States from 1937, two years after the Social Security Act was created, to 1998. They also show the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) which was created in the 1972 Social Security Amendments. The SSI program combined three previous programs that gave need to the needy aged, blind and disabled individuals. 5 Leuchtenburg, pg. 133 Anna Eleanor Roosevelt legal definition of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt legal definition of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia . Roosevelt, Anna Eleanor Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of U.S. President franklin d. roosevelt (FDR), transformed the role of first lady and influenced the course and content of twentieth-century U.S. politics. During FDR's nearly four terms in office (1933–1945), Roosevelt was an acknowledged political adviser with her own progressive agenda.

Roosevelt was a committed reformer. Born into wealth and privilege, she lent early and conspicuous support to child welfare laws, equal pay and employment legislation, Civil Rights , and Women's Rights . Her ideals helped define FDR's New Deal and modern Democratic liberalism. Although Roosevelt was admired by many, her high political profile was harshly criticized by people who believed she was too opinionated and influential. After FDR's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to support social and benevolent causes throughout the United States and the world. Although no longer first lady, she secured her reputation as a tireless activist and humanitarian. Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884, in New York City. Her parents, Elliott and Anna Hall Roosevelt, were socially and politically prominent. Her father was the younger brother of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt . Roosevelt's childhood was lonely; she had an emotionally detached mother and a loving but alcoholic father. Both parents died by the time Eleanor was ten years old. A serious, timid child, Roosevelt was sent by her grandmother in 1899 to Allenswood, a private girls' school near London.

There she overcame her shyness and became an active, well-liked student. When Roosevelt returned to New York, she entered high society. At the same time, she taught at a settlement house in a New York slum. Roosevelt married FDR, her distant cousin, on March 17, 1905. Her domineering mother-in-law, Sara Roosevelt, disapproved of Roosevelt and put an immediate strain on the marriage. The couple had six children, five of whom survived to adulthood. Roosevelt was not fulfilled by running a large household and attending social functions. When FDR was elected to the New York State Senate in 1910, she turned her attention to politics. In time, she discovered her talent for political organization and strategy. FDR became the assistant secretary of the Navy in 1913. After the United States entered World War I , Roosevelt found an outlet for her tremendous energy, organizing Red Cross efforts and working in military canteens. In 1918 Roosevelt discovered that FDR was having an affair with her social secretary Lucy Page Mercer. The marriage survived but became a union based primarily on politics, not love.

Roosevelt was determined to carve out her own niche in public service and national affairs. She became active in the League of Women Voters (although she had opposed female suffrage at one time) and the Women's Trade Union League. She assumed an increasingly active role in Democratic politics. In 1926 Roosevelt opened a furniture company in Hyde Park, New York, to provide jobs for unemployed workers. In 1927 Roosevelt and some colleagues founded the Todhunter School, where she was vice principal and taught government and history. FDR was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for vice president in the 1920 U.S. presidential election. In 1921 he contracted poliomyelitis, which left him permanently disabled. Because FDR could no longer walk independently, Roosevelt became his surrogate, filling in for him at meetings, state inspections, and public appearances. Her political skills and confidence grew in her role as FDR's emissary. FDR was elected governor of New York in 1928. Four years later he became the thirty-second president of the United States, defeating incumbent Republican President herbert hoover. FDR's mandate was to pull the country out of the Great Depression.

His economic recovery plan, popularly known as the New Deal, included sweeping, government-sponsored programs that were supported by Roosevelt. From the outset Roosevelt was a different kind of first lady. Visible and outspoken, she wrote her own newspaper column, entitled "My Day," from 1935 to 1962. She held regular press conferences with female reporters, and insisted on hard news coverage, not society-page trivia. Roosevelt lectured extensively throughout the United States, donating her fees to charity. Most importantly, she was FDR's legs and eyes, describing to him the actual, on-site progress of his social and economic programs. Roosevelt wielded considerable influence over the development of the New Deal. She openly supported legislation to create the National Youth Administration, a program that provided jobs for young people. Roosevelt worked hard for measures to improve the lives of children, women, unemployed workers, minority groups, and poor people. She also encouraged the appointment of women to key positions within FDR's administration, such as the appointment of Frances Perkins to secretary of labor. Roosevelt demonstrated the courage of her convictions. In 1939 she publicly resigned her membership to the elite Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

The DAR had denied permission to African American singer Marian Anderson to perform in Constitution Hall. Outraged at the group's racism, Roosevelt helped organize an alternate concert for Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial. Roosevelt served in an official public capacity for a short time. From 1941 to 1942, she was assistant director of the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD). When some of her appointments were criticized, however, Roosevelt stepped down from the position. The United States' involvement in World War II meant increased travel for Roosevelt. As a fact finder and a morale booster, she visited U.S. armed forces throughout the world. After the war Roosevelt supported the resettlement of European Jews in newly established Israel. FDR died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945. After his death Roosevelt remained in the public eye. She was one of the first U.S. delegates to the United Nations , appointed by President Harry S. Truman in December 1945. She served as chair of the Commission on Human Rights and helped draft the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. Roosevelt also remained active in Democratic politics and organized Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal unit within the party.

She backed adlai stevenson in his unsuccessful quest for the U.S. presidency in 1952 and 1956 and was a player in the 1952, 1958, and 1960 Democratic conventions. In 1952, with Republican dwight d. eisenhower in the White House, she resigned from the U.N. Democratic President john f. kennedy reappointed her to the post in 1961. Roosevelt published several books, including This Is My Story (1937), This I Remember (1949), On My Own (1958), and You Learn By Living (1960). "It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself." —Eleanor Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt | whitehouse.gov Air Force One Franklin D. Roosevelt Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression as our 32nd President (1933-1945), Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in themselves. Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D.

Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Born in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York--now a national historic site--he attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School. On St. Patrick's Day, 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt. Following the example of his fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt, whom he greatly admired, Franklin D. Roosevelt entered public service through politics, but as a Democrat. He won election to the New York Senate in 1910. President Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920. In the summer of 1921, when he was 39, disaster hit-he was stricken with poliomyelitis. Demonstrating indomitable courage, he fought to regain the use of his legs, particularly through swimming. At the 1924 Democratic Convention he dramatically appeared on crutches to nominate Alfred E.

Smith as "the Happy Warrior." In 1928 Roosevelt became Governor of New York. He was elected President in November 1932, to the first of four terms. By March there were 13,000,000 unemployed, and almost every bank was closed. In his first "hundred days," he proposed, and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those in danger of losing farms and homes, and reform, especially through the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority. By 1935 the Nation had achieved some measure of recovery, but businessmen and bankers were turning more and more against Roosevelt's New Deal program. They feared his experiments, were appalled because he had taken the Nation off the gold standard and allowed deficits in the budget, and disliked the concessions to labor. Roosevelt responded with a new program of reform: Social Security, heavier taxes on the wealthy, new controls over banks and public utilities, and an enormous work relief program for the unemployed. In 1936 he was re-elected by a top-heavy margin.

Feeling he was armed with a popular mandate, he sought legislation to enlarge the Supreme Court, which had been invalidating key New Deal measures. Roosevelt lost the Supreme Court battle, but a revolution in constitutional law took place. Thereafter the Government could legally regulate the economy. Roosevelt had pledged the United States to the "good neighbor" policy, transforming the Monroe Doctrine from a unilateral American manifesto into arrangements for mutual action against aggressors. He also sought through neutrality legislation to keep the United States out of the war in Europe, yet at the same time to strengthen nations threatened or attacked. When France fell and England came under siege in 1940, he began to send Great Britain all possible aid short of actual military involvement. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt directed organization of the Nation's manpower and resources for global war. Feeling that the future peace of the world would depend upon relations between the United States and Russia, he devoted much thought to the planning of a United Nations, in which, he hoped, international difficulties could be settled.

As the war drew to a close, Roosevelt's health deteriorated, and on April 12, 1945, while at Warm Springs, Georgia, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association. For more information about President Roosevelt, please visit

Question: Which U.S. president introduced a recovery plan popularly known as The New Deal?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt